Africa-Press – Uganda. The Court of Appeal has halted the second and parallel corruption case against former Karamoja Affairs Minister Mary Goretti Kitutu whom the Inspector General of Government (IGG) was prosecuting.
The injunctive orders of the Court of Appeal will stay in place until the main case in which Ms Kitutu is challenging what she calls double prosecution are determined.
“An order for stay of the criminal proceedings against the Applicant in HCT-00-AC-CO-0O56-2O23 (Uganda Vs Kitutu Mary Goretti and others) at the Chief Magistrate’s Court (Anti-Corruption Division) is hereby issued till the disposal of Civil Appeal No. 147 of 2024 pending before this court,” Justice Oscar John Kihika, who sat as a single judge, ruled on Friday.
Justice Kihika agreed with Ms Kitutu’s argument that her right to a fair hearing would be infringed upon since the second corruption case against her is yet to be determined.
“In the instant case, the applicant (Ms Kitutu) argues that the commencement of the second criminal proceedings would infringe on her right to a fair hearing. This of course is a matter that is to be determined in the main appeal. However, the right to a fair hearing in Article 28 of the Constitution is an inalienable right that ought to be strictly observed,” he held.
“If the second trial were to proceed before determining whether or not the applicant’s right to a fair hearing was infringed upon, would in my view be prejudicial to the applicant who would suffer immeasurable damage on account of being subjected to proceedings that could affect her right to a fair hearing,” Justice Kihika added.
Ms Kitutu, also the Woman MP for Manafwa District, was charged by the office of the DPP with two counts of loss of public property and conspiracy to defraud in connection with the diversion of 14,500 iron sheets meant for the vulnerable poor in Karamoja.
Likewise, the IGG issued written summons to her, demanding that she appear before her office on January 1, 2024, to give information on an ongoing inquiry in respect of the management of supplementary funds released to the OPM for FY 2021/22 amounting to more than Shs1.5b.
This saw Ms Kitutu file two applications seeking a temporary injunction and interim orders against the IGG challenging the summons and investigations. Core to her argument was that the additional charges by the IGG arose out of the same broad investigation that led to the first charges against her in co with the iron sheets.
Before these applications could be heard, the IGG brought fresh charges against her before the Anti-Corruption Court by amending the charge sheet to include her.
The former minister filed an application in which she sought a declaration that the subsequent charges brought against her, contravened her right to a fair hearing.
Background
On February 19, the Anti-Corruption Court held that the parallel and additional charges against the former minister are lawful and do not violate her right to a fair trial save for subjecting her to additional legal expenses.
But Ms Kitutu appealed against the decision in the Court of Appeal, leading to the Friday ruling.
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